What is, in your opinion, the coolest gun youve handled

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Doesn't have to be one you owned or anything rare, just the one you think back as it being really neat to hold one.

Mine is my dad's recently acquired Springfield trapdoor infantry rifle dated to right about 1890. Its in really great shape with only a few things missing (cleaning rod, non original rear sight, etc)
 
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The perfect thread for me to brag again....I had the opportunity, several years ago, to handle one of the6 prototype Colt Paterson revolvers that were made. Just to have in my hands a piece of history like that blew me away! I still smile when I think about having something in my hands that was held by the Colonel himself!

The second coolest was the 1911 that belonged to Elmer Keith. I couldn't wipe the grin off my face for a week! It belongs to a member here, BTW....
 
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There have been a few. All different but all cool in their own way. My falling block Enfield Martini in 303. A Broom handle Mauser, a Thompson SMG and a M60 SMG are 4 that I can remember
 
824tsv said:
The highlight for me was shooting a Thompson SMG in full auto.
Click to expand...

Yes that is a lot of fun, I have done it a few times when I visited Florida on Vacation.

With that said I have to believe that the .458 Winchester Magnum in a Competitor pistol that I shot was the coolest and quite possibly the most impractical gun I ever handled. ( A while back I made a post about shooting that gun.) Shot it only once and now much smarter will never fire it again.:D
 
Thompson, paid the fee and shot a few mags in Vegas. Close second was an M3A1.

Those were fantasy guns for me, had to do it once. For everything else, probably my first 1914 Gov't Model. First batch bought by the Canadian gov't for the war, original owner's name engraved on it.
 
A co worker had a thing for The Man From U.N.C.L.E. series. He had a gunsmith build him a P38k with an M16/AR15 caged flash suppressor on the end of the cut down barrel. When I shot it the P38 had a defective sear and it went full auto. It did three shot bursts. Was a hoot to shoot but I had him disassemble it into pieces to take to the gunsmith so he wouldn't get into trouble having an unregistered machine pistol. I never was able to talk him out of it.
A Thompson is a second and a Ruger AC 5.56 folding stock is third.

When I was in High School I was invited to hunt pigs by a classmate when I stopped by their house on a Saturday morning. They were leaving when I arrived and I didn't have time to go home and pick up my rifle. His Dad said he would loan me one of his. He took me into a room that had wall to wall rifle racks two deep. He collected pre 64 Model 70's. I selected one with a Unertl scope on it and a heavy barrel so he said take it. It was in .257 Roberts. He handed me two boxes of ammunition and off we went. I never saw a pig but it was a blast at shooting ground squirrels. I didn't have any money to buy anything so didn't ask if he'd sell it to me but it kind of hurt to have to give it back. He did let me clean it which I thought was pretty nice of him. After graduation they moved away.
 
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When Jaqua's was in its original building in downtown Findlay, Ohio you could walk in and go around the counter and handle numerous double rifles and nobody would blink their eye. Some of these were well in to 5 figures.
It was a VERY user friendly hands on experience only wish that I had done it more than once.
 
824tsv said:
The highlight for me was shooting a Thompson SMG in full auto.
Click to expand...

Yes, I agree, that would be me too! The one I shot was from ca. 1920. The owner told me it had been made for law enforcement to help control labor issues in the West Virginia coal mines.

Coolest handgun? A tie between a vintage Sig P210 and the HK P7. Both are in my safe.
 
An 1873 Colt Cavalry with 7 1/2 barrel I believe. That was at a gun show a few years back. Seller was asking $7000 and thought it was decent of him to let me handle it even though I did not have the funds. Quite a thrill just to hold it!
 
Like 'Muss", I too really like the MP 5. It is a very reliable and accurate sub. On single shot, it is amazingly accurate further out than one would believe. I would like to own one today, but the $35,000 to $40,000 cost prevents that. I was an MP 5 Instructor and Armor. Never had much to do in the 'Armor' capacity.
 
Got to shoot an original Hawken rifle at a ronyvoo at Ft. Bridger WY.

I've got a dang fine reproduction I was shooting at a raw egg on a string. A feller came up and complimented me on my rifle.

I said, "Thankee Sir, that's a fine one you're packin' there too."
He said, "Yeah, it's a original Hawken, do you want to shoot it?"

Dumbest question I was ever asked.

PS: I hit the egg! That's important cause if you missed, you ate that raw egg. There was more than a little risk shootin' a strange rifle but there was no way I was gonna pass up shootin' a real Jake Hawken rifle, and that's plumb center.
 
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Going back to my buddy's Colt Flattop Bisley Targets.
He had a pair given to him by a family member in a gin-u-wine Mexican Buscadero rig.
As I posted before, I was green with envy!
Why didn't I have kin folks like that?
Also really liked the Civilian Thompson with drum mags, it belonged to the Carlsbad, NM Police Dept.
 
I held a friends Colt SAA in 44 Russian that was NIB from 1921. He had inherited it, and thought it might be worth $600. I told him a bit more. It sold at auction for $25,000.
 
Local gun shop recently had a .44 Auto Mag. Nine-inch barrel (no rib), magna-ported, came with a leather flap holster with mag pouch and some other stuff. $4600. Handling it was all I could afford to do!
 
I have to admit my love for Desert Eagle's in .50 AE. Big ,over the top,and completely impracticable.By far the most accurate handguns I have ever experienced.At one point I owned four of these behemoths,now down to two.I got into this line by accident.I went to my LGS with intent to purchase a S&W 500,but left with two of these instead.:)
 
Being one interested in World War II history, I never got to hold it but still it was a thrill for me to stand a foot or two from it (it was displayed at approximately eye-level) and get a good, close look at General Patton's Colt .45 and think of all the places that pistol had been - and remember that it nearly went into the drink from the Augusta without ever having the chance to go all of those places. :)
 
I was in the 4th Infantry in Vietnam in 1969 and I was a platoon Sgt. of the 2nd platoon of B company 1/12. Our Sniper was wounded and when he left the field they told me I could keep his weapon and carry until I left in January 1970. The sniper rifle was a M14 and it was selected because of its accuracy, reliability, and the ability for a quick follow up shot. As a result, in 1969, the Rock Island Arsenal converted 1,435 National Match (target grade) M14s by adding a Leatherwood 3–9× Adjustable Ranging Telescope and providing National Match grade ammunition. This version, called the XM21, had a specially selected walnut stock and was first fielded in the second half of 1969. Not mentioned in the above was it also came with a Starlite scope and it was a great combination.

It was a great weapon and a lot of fun being allowed to carry it and use it in combat during the last 4 months of my tour.

 
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I had the pleasure of seeing and handling and watching the owner shoot, a Model 1911 made in 1914 by the Springfield Arsenal. It was in real good shape and had the American Eagle stamp on the slide like you see on all the American Arsenal made guns going back to even before the Civil War. It is still the only one I have ever seen.
 
This is potentially the coolest thread I've seen in a little while. :-)

Let's see, coolest I've handled? Honestly not sure. Just did a bit of a trigger job, bobbed the hammer and added a new, gorgeous set of Altamont conversion grips to a 4" model 64... so, I'll say maybe that one. At least for now. I'll have to go fondle some more guns and get back to you.. thanks to this thread, I can tell my wife it's just for "research." :D
 
My experience may not be as cool as some of the others here, but I had a chance to shoot a Tussey Custom 1911 during a training course, including some rapid fire, multiple target drills. That gun was slick. Literally. Anywhere metal moved against metal was polished mirror smooth. Even the striking surface of the hammer where the slide rides over it while cycling. Great trigger, too. One had to work hard to miss with that gun. Fortunately, I'm not a hard worker. ;)

There may be a couple of other guns that could count, including the custom 3" 65 I used to have, but that Tussey 1911 is usually the first to come to mind when it comes to "coolest" guns I've handled.
 
824tsv said:
The highlight for me was shooting a Thompson SMG in full auto.
Click to expand...


This......^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

and being able to handle 4 Registered Magnums... in one day... at the NE Ohio Bunch gathering.... last year.


Oh ya; my Dad's 1939, 6 inch Colt New Service in .357 magnum with king adjustable sights it was his primary duty and target revolver from 1939 to about 1978.......full of fond memories.
 
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